Addison Rae is starring in Vital Proteins’ new campaign (young ppl should not be able to promote “supplements” of any kind to other young ppl imo, but I guess get that money, girl); the sex ed wars will never end; aaaaand what college students think about abortion.
FEAR AND LOATHING RETURN TO TECH START-UPS, nyt
“If you’re 35 or under in tech, you’ve probably never seen a down market…what you’re accustomed to is up and to the right your entire career.” I’ve spent a lot of time this week thinking about how Gen Z is going to handle their first stock market crash.
TRENDS ARE DEAD, vox
Yes, yes, another take on bad internet brain (see yesterday’s, also from Vox, on “YouTube brain”), but! Terry Nguyen on “trend brain” was exactly what I needed this week. The “trajectory of TikTok’s many micro-trends is practically a parody of the early 2010s internet,” she writes. “The twilight of the hipster, when alternative music and fashion blogs were gospel and indie tastemakers the ultimate arbiters of cool. That is, until hipster-dom morphed into an aestheticized parody of itself on social media, transmuting into a rebloggable, buyable identity courtesy of Tumblr and Urban Outfitters.”
PARADE TAPS DESIGNER TYLER MCGILLVARY FOR TRIPPY UNDERWEAR COLLECTION, hypebae
Parade has tapped beloved Gen Z designer Tyler McGillvary for a trippy collab. I must note that I originally read this headline as a “swimwear collection,” and then I soon realized that what was a failure on my brain’s part is actually a total stroke of brilliance and now I will not rest until Parade launches a swimwear collection.
HOW ZITSTICKA ENGINEERED A NEW PRODUCT TO GO VIRAL THROUGH A CREATIVE INFLUENCER CAMPAIGN, glossy
They asked 100 influencers with — this is key — overlapping followers to simultaneously post a teaser on IG Stories, and a second coordinated post followed on launch day. The outcome? They saw a 231% increase in its waitlist sign-ups, and 57% more website visitors.
THIS NEW SOCIAL APP IS BORING, IN A GOOD WAY, nyt
I enjoyed reading John Herrman — who is very much not a Gen Zer, no offense to John — on Gen Z’s favorite new app. This observation, I think, is on the money:
Right now, BeReal feels more like a group activity than a full-fledged social platform, a low-stakes diversion that, despite its direct demands, doesn’t ask for much. It’s a randomly scheduled social break from your day but also from your other feeds, where scrolling and posting have drifted from leisure to labor or worse.
One last thought: